... Then Comes Marriage

My sister is getting married in July.

B's engagement ring

Well, I have two sisters. M is already married, but it seems so natural for her. She and her husband, W, have been together a total of twelve years, five-and-a-half of which they have been married. I might my brother-in-law when I was twelve. He's been around for literally half my life, and through most of my important accomplishments.

However, now that the other sister, B, is getting married it feels weird. She and I are closer in age. We used to play together. Now we didn't exactly play like normal children. Instead, she had an intricate system called "Dividing" and we never played dolls, or Barbies, or Tea Bunnies without it.

In the most complicated system, B would start by sorting all the dolls' clothing, shoes, accessories into categories. As we got older, though, we skipped this step. Instead, she'd put everything into a large pile behind her back. She'd select three random items from the pile and place them in front of her.

My Little Ponies were often the toy of choice, as well.

To actually select dolls, we had a system similar to the NFL draft. I'd choose, then she'd choose. The she'd choose and I'd choose. It was fair and balanced, except somehow I always felt that I got scammed into choosing the lamer dolls.

After we divided, B would quickly lose interest. So we couldn't just play normal dolls like my friends from school did. Instead, we had to have a story. She was always such an intricate story teller, and she still is. In fact, she writes regularly for a Harry Potter role play group. This isn't out of character at all.

Anyway, we'd play hospital, where each of the dolls had some sort of illness or injury that forced them to live in the ward, and we were the doctors, nurses, and activity coordinators. Sometimes, the dolls would participate in a beauty pageant, and we had to make them perform talents and model different outfits.

B's favorite, though, was "Growing-Up". We'd play through a day or so of our dolls lives, and then she'd shout "grow up!" and they all would. Each doll would age a predetermined number of years, sometimes transforming into another doll to be as accurate as possible. At different life stages, the dolls encountered different obstacles and overcame them.

It was a little like analog Sims. Actually, that's exactly what it was like. B, my childhood playmate, is getting married in July, and it just feels so strange. It's like she's hit the "Grow Up" stage, and I haven't. I think that's what feels the weirdest.